Chapter 274: An East China Sea Pearl
The imperial doctors looked hurried and walked hurriedly, shuttling back and forth between the imperial prison and the imperial medical service.
Their figures on the palace road appeared particularly anxious, giving people the feeling that the poisoning situation in the imperial prison was extremely serious.
"Your Majesty." An imperial physician came to report anxiously, with a hint of joy in his voice, "Eunuch Wang has woken up!"
"Great!" Zhang Chengyan stood up instantly and ran quickly towards the small room in the inner room.
Wang Decai lay weakly on the bed, his face as pale as paper and his lips bloodless.
Seeing the emperor coming in, he subconsciously struggled to stand up and salute, his voice weak, "Your Majesty, your servant..."
Zhang Chengyan quickly stepped forward and held him down with his hand. "No need to salute. Just focus on recuperating."
Wang Decai was so moved that tears streamed down his wrinkled cheeks. "Thank you, Your Majesty, for not giving up on me."
When the poison took effect, the bone-eating pain and endless darkness made Wang Decai really think that he was going to die and would never be able to serve the emperor again.
He never wants to experience that feeling again in his life!
"Your Majesty, how is Xiao Luzi?"
"He was poisoned too deeply and has not been detoxified yet." Zhang Chengyan sighed.
Wang Decai was able to save his life only because he took various detoxifying herbs in time at the beginning of the poisoning.
Although the toxins could not be completely eliminated, at least he was brought back from the brink of death.
If Xiao Luzi had not licked the poisoned finger at that time and had waited until the poison took effect before trying to save him, even if Hua Tuo were still alive, he would probably be unable to save him.
Wang Decai sighed, "Your Majesty, I was able to survive this time thanks to Xiao Luzi. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have known that the stone was poisonous. This person is so sinister that he came up with such a vicious method. It's obvious that he wants to put the lives of everyone in the imperial prison in danger!"
In the imperial prison, there were Lin Sheng and a group of imperial guards, totaling more than a dozen people.
They are all the emperor's confidants. If they all die unfortunately, it will undoubtedly be a huge loss!
"I have already given the order to close the net..." Zhang Chengyan had just said this when a report suddenly came from outside.
"Your Majesty, we found something!"
A royal guard walked into the room, holding an exquisite small wooden box in his hands.
When the box was opened, a round pearl came into view.
Just as Zhang Chengyan was about to reach out to take it, the Imperial Guards quickly dissuaded him, "Your Majesty, you must not touch it. This pearl is very likely soaked in poison!"
"Where did you find this thing?" Zhang Chengyan immediately withdrew his hand.
He doesn't want to become like Wang Decai.
Although he saved his life, his body was still a little deteriorated, and his life span might be affected.
"It was in a basket containing medicine. The basket was originally to be disposed of, but the pearl was found during the cleaning process. We suspect it was soaked in a deadly poison, with the intention of ensuring that the poison remained in the basket and thus poisoned the people in the prison."
The stone is large in size, and perhaps the first person who takes the medicine will throw it away directly after seeing it.
But this pearl was completely different. It was so small and delicate that it fell between the cracks of the basket and was almost imperceptible.
Moreover, the pearl is of excellent quality and so small that it is easy for people to mistake it for being accidentally dropped into the water.
Someone might hide it away out of greed, which would lead to even more serious consequences!
"Give this pearl to the royal physician and order them to examine it carefully and also to find out where this pearl came from."
"Yes!" The Royal Guards took the order and retreated with the things.
Only half an hour later, people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs arrived.
Judging from the size and quality of the pearls, they are East China Sea pearls that were presented as tribute this year.
Although it has not yet reached the top quality of Dongzhu, it is not far away.
This year, only one person in the harem received this kind of pearl, and that was the Queen!
Initially, these pearls were distributed to the palaces of several concubines.
However, for some unknown reason, Jin Weige asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs to take it away and did not accept it.
Perhaps after the news spread, others thought that there was something wrong with the pearl, so Jin Weige didn't want it, and then several subsequent concubines also refused to accept it.
In the end, only the queen was left with this pearl.
As for Bai Wutong, she had never asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs for such items, and the ones the emperor rewarded her with were all ready-made jewelry, not these scattered beads.
The number of pearls now retained by the Imperial Household Department is completely consistent with the records in the account books.
In this way, there is only one source of this pearl, that is, the queen's palace.
After hearing this, Zhang Chengyan frowned slightly. The fact that the Queen could do such a thing as the koi holding the pearl was enough to show that she was vicious and scheming. How could she be so careless this time?
"Since this pearl is only in the Queen's palace, why would she use it? Isn't this tantamount to exposing her own actions?"
The chief eunuch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs stepped forward and explained respectfully, "Your Majesty, you may not know that the quality of this pearl is difficult for ordinary people to distinguish. It is because we have handled it many times that we can determine that it is this year's tribute."
Bai Wutong, who had been sitting by the side and listening quietly, finally spoke softly, "Your Majesty, I really can't tell the quality of this pearl. The jewelry you gave me, with all kinds of pearls and jade inlaid on it, it's really hard for me to judge the quality. However, the Dongzhu is so big that I can still tell it apart."
"Your Majesty, it is actually very easy to tell whether the Empress knows about this. Just bring some more pearls over and ask her. If the Empress cannot tell the difference, it means she doesn't even know that these are new pearls this year."
Bai Wutong lowered his eyes.
As early as when I started this plan.
She had thought it over.
The Imperial Household Department takes great care in preserving pearls, so even last year’s quality is not much different from this year’s.
Apart from the palace maid who took over the pearl every day, it was difficult for others to find it.
The Queen would wear some oriental pearls except on major occasions, and she almost never wore pearl jewelry.
This means that she doesn’t like it, and if she doesn’t like it, she naturally won’t understand it.
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